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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Some have asked to keep you up to date with the star quilt that is being made as a quilt-as-you go

(QAYG) using the

Fun and Done technique.

Thus far I am enjoying the ease of quilting a block vs. a whole quilt on my domestic machine. Of course the trick will be how well will it go together. Key is to make sure each block is the same size!

I am just tickled pink orange with the quilted rays on this unique and awesome star block. If it has a name I don't know what it is but, if you do please leave a note in comments. For those reading about the star blocks for the first time they were made by the members of the Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild and I happened to be the lucky person to go home with them.

I love this block too with it's cross-hatched center!

While quilting these blocks I counted stitches so I wouldn't have to draw each quilt design. This saved a lot of time.

I learned that counting stitches on the bias vs. straight edge didn't necessarily end up having the same amount of spacing.

12 stitches on a straight edge was 3/4 inches but not so when on a bias line.

Here's another illuminating star that makes me happy!

The pink looks so nice with the gray polka dot frame.

The backing on each of these blocks is 1 inch wider than the block all around. They will be double folded toward the front of each block after being sewn together with backsides facing each other.

All other remaining blocks are sandwiched and pinned ready to be quilted. Though no finishes I feel as though I was productive this past weekend.

Glue

Batting for one of the blocks had a tiny piece missing. My fix it was cut a piece to fill the sliver and glue it and heat press it so it stays in place. Glue has become quite essential lately for my sewing and quilting needs.

It is great for:

Binding before stitching. It saves fingers from being pricked.

In tight places such as rag dolls and clothes.

Fun And Done sashing. Will work great keeping the sashing pressed in place until it is sewn.

St. Louis 16 Patch

Following "Sew With Sass's" tutorial for making the St. Louis 16 Patch I made this block using existing stash. I had a bit of time wrapped up looking for something where the fabrics were compatible.

Sew with Sass's uses fat quarters that will make two complete blocks. I made the first one on the fly to take as a swap block Thursday night to the guild meeting. A couple of days later the second block was completed. Now this block needs a quilt - right?

Rainbow Color Selector

Overall I was believing my stash was banking on boring and being antiquish. So with my Rainbow Selector I coordinated some pairs for making more St. Louis 16 patches. I was quite elated to make that happen. In all honesty I wouldn't have paired most of these together. I stress over combining colors but this little tool made it easier.

Earlier this afternoon I had been flipping through some quilting books and used Sticky Notes on pages with quilts that caught my eye and noted what I like most about each. Most often it was colors over design. I am grateful for Cynthia Brunz Designs, aka as "Quilting is more fun that Housework" who is my inspiration to take time out to learn how to put fabric and colors together from my stash as she does. She creates the most wonderful quilts that are well color coordinated from her stash. Amazing!!

If you haven't seen them I have completed another tote bag (WooHoo!) and a set of 20" Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. They can be seen in My Etsy Shop. I hope you have time to visit it. It is a new adventure for me opening up shop!

Back to sewing, quilting and creating! I hope you have a great week. It will be a busy one for me! Gasp!!

Hope to see you at:

Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Who is it for?
It is going to be donated to a Red Cross Volunteer, a project of the Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild.Why am I happy that it is finished?
Because this is what my quilting studio looks like after finishing one and a partial one made. My quilting studio is a huge mess after a day working on both totes!

Creative Explosion as deemed by a friend!

Fabric is piled high on my desk as well. Threads are everywhere. I just cleaned up the day before. It sure didn't take me long to make this creative explosion. As you can see I shopped my stash and scrap basket.
Thread was everywhere because of making use of my seam ripper that I love using! Not!

Are you wondering why a simple looking tote would create a need for so much ripping?

Me too! It was because of using 3 different patterns to implement different features, one for size, one for stripping (the pattern was all vertical strips) and the other for using fleece in place of fusible interfacing. The creative redesign was a bit of a bumpy road. But, now that I have it down the second one is going smoothly! The second one will be for My Etsy Shop.

Come this Thursday I am hoping that it will be received well and that the Red Cross Volunteer will love it! Do you think she will?

I will be linking up with:

Thank you for visiting and wishing you a great sewing or quilting day!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Fall really seems to be happening today. The temperature has dropped, the air has a cool refreshing breeze and the leaves are slowly meandering to the ground when looking out my quilting studio window.

The Blue Ridge Mountains' Fall display is a favorite area to see the foliage in its majesty. The leaves are brilliant red, yellow, orange and green. This year I just may see the Blue Ridge Mountains when the colors are at their peak while attending an annual conference in Black Mountain, NC. You can bet I will have my camera with me to capture the beauty. Check out this picture at JayKaiser's Home in Brevard, NC Blog a breathtaking snapshot that he took.

In anticipation of seeing the leaves I have created a Fall table runner. I am calling it "the Blue Ridge Mountains in its Glory Table Runner.

This table runner was designed on Electric Quilt. Original size was 78.5" x 22.5."

Then redesigned after laying the blocks on my table learning that the first design was too long for my dining room table by eliminating the middle block.

Again redesigned the final one measures 56" x 15.5" due to not having enough fabric for the outer border. And if you take a closer look at the actual finished table runner the leaves are turned outward vs. inward.

Thus concludes the saga of the table runner creation process.

Whooping It Up Week! A Give Away to Celebrate!

Thank you to all who participated in the giveaway, becoming followers if not prior and a huge thanks to all who took the Raggedy Ann and Andy Survey.

The results of the survey were:

1. Which do you prefer - the new modern or the traditional?

Modern - 26.6%

Traditional - 73.33%

2. What size do you like best?

15" - 40%

20" - 60%

25" - 0%

3. If you had a choice would you select a specific color or fabric?

Yes - 80%

No - 20%

4. Have you ever owned a Raggedy Ann or Andy or both?

Yes - 86.67%

No - 13.33%

The traditional in the mid size (20") is the preference. Surprisingly was the large percent of those who once owned a Raggedy Ann or Andy or both. After the fact I believe there should have been an age category included in the survey.

Okay let's get to who the winner is of the giveaway.

She is #24 as selected by the Random Generator

Kathy is the winner.

Kathy is not a blogger so I will be contacting her by email!

Congratulations you are the winner of:Simple Vintage Jellies from JoAnn Fabrics. and A Bunny Hill Design Pumpkin Pie Pattern

Monday, September 9, 2013

Somewhere along the way I was reading how to use Pinterest to draw visitors to your blog or website. The idea was good and the explanation was too. When it came time for me to attempt doing it myself it took many tries until I figured how to make it work on the sidebar of my blog.

I had written it down on paper but when the time came to revisit it my written notes were hardly helpful. So I thought I would develop a pictorial tutorial for all you visionaries like me out there who learn more by pictures. So lets go!

But first let me tell you how this can be helpful to your blog readers. It can serve two purposes. The sidebar of your blog is precious space that can be used to inform the reader very quickly what other treasures lie within your blog. They may see a picture or sign on your sidebar that intrigues them to visit a little longer. The picture will be a link to the original message.

This tutorial will show you how to add a "Pin It" button as well as a linked picture. When a reader sees something of interest they may choose to "Pin It", as well as dig deeper into your blog to read the original message. A pinned image on Pinterest will bring visitors to your blog that another visitor had pinned previously from your sidebar image.

In the above picture is a screen shot of my blog. The Raggedy Ann and Andy picture is linked to my original message and the "Pin It" button will link to the visitor's Pinterest Boards.

Below is the step by step pictorial tutorial:

1. Begin by opening a blank Word Document as we will be copying, pasting and doing some easy html code additives. This will be our Word Worksheet.

2. Go to the message in your blog. Copy the url for that particular message you are interested in drawing visitors to, or one that you know that has been one of your reader's favorite. Click the title of your post and the url will change to that specific posted message.

3.Below is what my url looks like pasted on my Word Worksheet. Note that it is a specific url address of my post message titled Ann meets Andy. It is not my general url address.

4. I am going add html code to anchor the above url address that was pasted in the Word Worksheet. See the html code added in red text in the image below - !< a href =! and !>!.

5. Next we are going to copy and paste the html code for the image of Raggedy Ann and Andy that is shown in the original message. We will be copying the image source or image border html code in the design section of the specific posted message. Click on the "HTML" tab as shown in the picture below. Follow the arrow.

6. Now that we are in the file labeled "HTML" - highlight the portion of the A href code for your desired image. Begin highlighting with "img border" or "img src". Be sure to include the beginning and ending html codes as shown in the red text overlay in the image below.

""

7. Next we need to resize the picture so that it will fit within the parameters of your sideborder. On my particular blog I like the width of 145. In the above image it shows that the width = 495. Since I know the width I want I divide 145 by 495 to determine the ratio. It equals .2929. I now multiply the height of 373 as shown above by .2929 to find the height in relationship that will work with my desired width. 373 x .2929 = 109.25 I round off so below take notice that the height is 109. Change the numbers in between the quote marks and make sure the quote symbols remain! Below in red text notice the changed height and width.

8. The next step we will be adding the "Pin It" button by building a widget from Pinterest Goodies.

Below is what you will find once you arrive at the Pinterest Goodies' link provided for you above.

Since we will be handling one picture on your sidebar choose the button type "One Image." Next choose the location of your PinCount if interested in having one. Your choices will be "Above the Button"," Beside the Button" or "Not Shown". Choose your preference.

Next add the url of the location of the original message on your blog. This will be the first url pasted on your Word Worksheet we have been building. Do not copy the anchor html code, only the url address. In my example it will be

9. The fill in for the image url will be the next step. Right click the image and choose "View Image Info." Follow the arrow.

Copy the url address show below and paste it in the Image field for the Pin It Button Widget.

Enter your description as how you want it to appear on Pinterest.Then click "Build It." Below is how it will appear on the screen. Copy and paste the html code as shown under "Insert the Link" and paste it in your Word Worksheet.

Your Word Worksheet should look like this after adding the "Pin It" html code.

Below the "Insert the Link" box is another box with html code for Java Script. It ends the html code relative to the "Pin It" code. Read and determine if it is something that you need to add to the bottom of any of your messages where you have used the "Pin It" Button Widget.

10. Copy and paste the completed html code from the Word Worksheet to "Add Gadget" of the "Layout section of blogger. A pop up menu will appear after clicking on "Add Gadget." Look for the option "HTML/Java Script." Paste the entire html code developed from your Word Worksheet here. You can title it. It will assist you in knowing the locations and titles of all the gadgets in order to manage them more efficiently.

You now can position the newly created Gadget by sliding it down in position between already created Gadgets. Save arrangement.

Other helpful information

You may want to know the stats for Pinterest activity between Pinterest and your blog/website. Read more about Pinterest Analytics here. It will provide valuable information, such as "Site Metrics" "Most Recent Pins" and "Most Repinned." This analytical tool will inform you which pins are driving visitors to and from your blog.

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Welcome to my place . . .

where I share my passion for quilting! It all began when I participatied in a block challenge in 2004. Now almost 12 years later I still am making quilts. Needle and thread have long been in my hand since a teenager, beginning with knitting needles and making clothes with the sewing machine.